A couple of articles in GK about the APHC and its functioning and issues confronting it caught my attention. While Naseer Ahmad in his article titled ‘Why blame leaders alone?’ has put the greater part of blame on people, others like Inam ul Rehman (in response to Naseer’s article) has come down heavily on the APHC leaders for lacking vision and commitment. Ghulam Nabi Khayal’s article ‘One-man show?’ dealing with the same issue from an objective perspective offered enough food for thought to people of the state in general and APHC leaders in particular. Since Kashmir (read J&K) is a geo-political issue, having an organization that has a pan-religious appeal in place is a rather good idea. There'll be much more subscription to buying the arguments that would be shot off from this platform. Constitutionally and structurally Hurriyat may not essentially be a religious body but that is what its present composition conveys. It’s not for the people of the state to go with suggestions to these leaders and tell them what to do and what not. That is not the quality of a good leader. We have numerous examples of world leaders who have lead people successfully and the world too hasn’t forgotten them. Who can forget Khomeini of Iran who steered successful revolution against a ‘sold-out’ regime and that too in exile? He mobilized Iranian youth through his writings first from Iraq and then from France. The challenge before Khomeini was even greater than the likes of Geelani and Mir Waiz. How did Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela et al lead successful movements? They certainly put the cause before themselves and not the other way round. Mr. Khayal has rightly asked the Hurriyat leaders to put their house in order before embarking on a K-solving drive. The internal bickering in APHC has given way to increased trust deficit in its supporters. The cracks in the house speak volumes about the ambition of these leaders. If APHC members can’t find a common ground to assemble and move along hand in hand, they better open a university and head its different departments. These institutes can be better places for them to pursue their hobby of lobbyism and consciously or otherwise they can contribute to the growth of our society as well.
Sheikh Anjum Husain
Sofipora Pahalgam
anjum.valley@gmail.com

Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IST